156 PLANT-BREEDING 



tion. By means of silk bolting cloths the hull or bean is 

 sifted out, and the starch, which is heavier than the gluten, 

 sinks to the bottom. Starch is the basis of a large number 

 of products, as for instance, glucose, grape-sugar, dextrine, 

 and gum. Among' them, glucose is the most important, 

 next to the starch itself. The oil is isolated from the germs 

 by pressure after drying and grinding them to a fine powder. 

 The residue constitutes the corn cake and corn meal which 

 is used for feeding live stock. The oil itself is used by paint 

 manufacturers, soap makers and for the production of 

 rubber substitutes, among which the corn rubber or vul- 

 canized corn oil is one of the most important. The hominy 

 mills separate the hulls and germs from the hominy, which 

 chiefly consists of the horny part of the kernel, with more 

 or less adhering starch. Separated in pure form and re- 

 duced to a coarse powder, the hominy is called grits, the 

 white starch being put on the market as corn flour or break 

 flour. 



The increase of protein is of high value, inasmuch as 

 corn is relatively deficient in this substance and not a satis- 

 factory food for young animals, except when fed in combi- 

 nation with other nitrogenous feeding stuffs. Protein is 

 several times higher in price than corn itself, and conse- 

 quently the stock feeders want varieties which are richer in 

 protein than the present ones. Any increase of the protein 

 content by selection will make corn more valuable as a food 

 for live stock. It is easily seen that even a slight improvement 

 in this direction would be of tremendous importance. And 

 in the same way there now exist markets for many different 

 kinds of corn. Besides the products already named, whiskey, 

 commercial alcohol, cellulose for coffer dams in battle- 

 ships, smokeless powder, and many other commodities are 

 manufactured from corn. But since by far the largest 

 quantity of corn is fed to cattle and other meat- producing 



